HP just announced today that it plans
to acquire Palm for $1.2 billion USD. Most in the tech community were
practically
begging for HTC to snap up the struggling smartphone maker, but
in the end, it was HP that prevailed.

Palm shareholders stand to get $5.70
per share in the deal, which is a pretty nice premium considering
that the stock closed at $4.65 on Tuesday.

"We're thrilled by HP's vote of
confidence in Palm's technological leadership, which delivered Palm
webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre. HP's longstanding
culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it
the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS,"
said Palm Chairman and CEO Jon Rubinstein. "We look forward to
working with HP to continue to deliver industry-leading mobile
experiences to our customers and business partners."

"Palm's innovative operating
system provides an ideal platform to expand HP's mobility strategy
and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected
devices," continued Todd Bradley, executive vice president of
HP's Personal Systems Group. "And, Palm possesses significant IP
assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large,
profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an
integrated device and experience command a higher share. Advances in
mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be
a leader in this market."

For those that were wondering, Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein will be sticking around after the acquisition.

With Dell seemingly
prepared for World War III with a slew of new Android and Windows
Phone 7 phones on the way, it should be interesting to see what
archrival HP will do with Palm's technology in the coming months and
years.

"I'd be pissed too, but you didn't have to go all Minority Report on his ass!" -- Jon Stewart on police raiding Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's home